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3.24.2013

It's a Sunday thing...

Each Sunday, Weekend Writing Warriors at hosts a fun new meme. Link to their list at http://www.wewriwa.com/ and post eight sentences from a published or unpublished work to your blog on Sunday.
Today I'd like to share 8 sentences from Crisis of Identity. This scene describes Tess' first encounter with Trevor on the common at the Buttermilk ski area near Aspen, Colorado.Black jeans.
Black turtleneck. Tan suede rancher’s coat with fleece lining. Black boots.
Long beard. Ponytail. A shiver of cold dread surged from my toes and bolted out
the top of my head. The out of place always rattled me, and this man didn’t
belong on the slopes.I hope you enjoyed the excerpt. Here's a blurb about the book...

Tess Copeland is an operator. Her motto? Necessity is the
mother of a good con. When Hurricane Irving slams into the Texas Gulf coast,
Tess seizes the opportunity to escape her past by hijacking a dead woman’s
life, but Shelby Coleman’s was the wrong identity to steal. And the cop that
trails her? He’s a U.S. Marshall with the Fugitive Task Force for the northern
district of Illinois. Tess left Chicago because the criminal justice system
gave her no choice. Now she’s on the run from ghosts of misdeeds past—both hers
and Shelby’s.

Enter Trevor Smith, a pseudo-cowboy from Houston, Texas,
with good looks, a quick tongue, and testosterone poisoning. Will Tess succumb
to his questionable charms and become his damsel in distress? She doesn’t have
to faint at his feet—she’s capable of handling just about anything. But will
she choose to let Trevor be the man? When Tess kidnaps her niece, her life changes.
She must make some hard decisions. Does she trust the lawman that promises her
redemption, or does she trust the cowboy that promises her nothing but himself?

3.16.2013

It's a Sunday Thing...

Each Sunday, Weekend Writing Warriors at hosts a fun new meme. Link to their list at http://www.wewriwa.com/and post eight sentences from a published or unpublished work to your blog on Sunday.

This scene is from my full-length book, Crisis of Identity. I
love this scene because it shows the reader the heroine's creative skills in problem
solving. After all, necessity is the mother of a good con. The authorities had
asked everyone who intended to ride out Hurricane Irving to write their social
security number on their arm in permanent marker. Tess survived the storm—without
writing her number on her arm—and was “volunteered” by a local cop to help with
the makeshift morgue. That’s when she spotted Shelby, whose social security number
was written on her arm… and she didn’t survive the storm.

So here are my eight sentences...

My
breath hitched. Her Social Security number was so nearly like mine. I scanned
the gym. Jake, the one man who might care if she became me or I became her, was
absent. With a few strokes of the pen, I could die and live again.

My
heart pounded with the possibility I might get a chance to start over without
the baggage of my past dragging me down. I changed her identity with a few
swipes of a permanent marker. The number went onto my log with an unshaken
hand, and I was free to escape the woman I used to be…the woman I didn’t want
to be any longer.

Hope you enjoyed this snippet! Crisis of Identity can be purchased at the following sites...

3.13.2013

Check out this
exciting new release by romantic suspense author, Chantel Rhondeau.

Crime & Passion

Genre: Romantic
suspense/mystery

Release date: March
15, 2013

Cover art done by LFD
Designs for Authors

A decorated police
officer, more intent on justice than following the letter of the law, lands in
trouble when a schoolteacher finds a dead body on the beach.

Officer Donovan
Andrews knows how to have a good time—ask any woman in town. But when it comes
to men abusing their wives or children, Donovan takes it upon himself to make
them regret it.

Madeline Scott is
unlucky in love. All she wants is a quiet place to heal, away from cheating,
womanizing men. However, her life is far from peaceful once she stumbles across
the body and witnesses someone fleeing the scene.

Terror spreads in
Pleasant View when the small community hears a killer is on the loose. All
evidence points to Donovan, and he realizes someone is trying to frame him.
When troubling suspicions from his past surface, even fellow officers believe
he’s guilty. Madeline might be the only person who can clear his name, but
first he has to win her trust.

The body count rises
and no one is safe.The murderer makes it clear Madeline is next. Soon, Donovan’s
whole world is focused on protecting her and keeping himself out of prison. The
more time he spends with her, the harder it is to fight his growing attraction.
Since she’s been burned by love, convincing Madeline he’s interested in
something more than hot sex may prove harder than keeping her alive.

Chantel once thought
a great mystery or fantasy book with strong romantic themes was the highest
level of reading bliss. After reading her first romantic suspense novel, she
never looked back. Before long, the need to create her own stories took over.
She spends her daytime in the clinical profession of medical transcriptionist,
but her passion is in the blissful hours she spends with her characters in the
evenings.

Chantel lives in the
western United States. When she isn’t writing, she loves playing cards with her
family and snuggling with her lazy kitties.

3.05.2013

I’m not gonna lie, my muse has been good to me lately. I’ve started a new Work In Progress, and she has practically written the story for me. Sometimes I love her.

Then, there’s those other times when she’s being, shall we say, ornery. There have been a few occasions where no amount of pleading, cajoling, or threatening with lawsuits can motivate her to give up her ideas. Dang her, anyway.

I was chatting with my writer’s group yesterday and the subject of recalcitrant muses came up. Thank God I’m not the only writer who has a stubborn muse. I don’t feel so alone in the world.

So let’s just say I suggested seducing…um, enticing…or maybe luring her out of hiding…with chocolate. This has worked for me before.

Muse: Whadaya mean nothing? I can see the wrapper. Are you… Yes, you’re eating chocolate. And you weren’t going to share, were you?

FW: I domth know wha ya mean. * wipes mouth with back of sleeve *

Muse: Can I have a bite?

FW: Don’t be silly. Muses can’t eat.

Muse: The heck they can’t. Don’t be selfish and share your chocolate.

FW: * tilts head sideways * If I give you some chocolate, will you help me finish Chapter Three?

Muse: * snorts * I told you how to write that chapter already. But noooo…. You wouldn’t listen to my advice. You had to give your heroine a colon cleanse. What made you think her hero would want to hear about her experience? Erase the chapter and start over.

3.01.2013

Each week, Hilary at www.feelingbeachie.com lists four statements with a blank for you
to fill in on your own blog. If you want to join the fun and come up with four
fill in’s of your own, please email them to her at Hilary(at)feelingbeachie(dot)com.
If she uses them, she will add you as co-host to the hop! This week’s co-host
is Uttley fromUttley’s take– he came up with the last
two statements! Hilary wouldLOVEit if
you could please help her spread the word about this hop…. So, pleasetweet,FaceBook share, andadd the linkyto your post…

This week’s statements:
1. Sometimes I ___ I am ___
2. When I wear ___ I feel ____
3. When in doubt, _____________
4. The easiest way to ______________ is to ___________.

My Answers:
1. Sometimes Iate eat a whole box of tagalongs when Iam…well, really, just because I want to
2. When I wearclothes I haven’t worn since before I lost weight,I feelsexy
3. When in doubt,I usual consider both the pros and the
cons, and then go with my gut instinct
4. The easiest wayto make me madis toinsult one of my children

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Some stuff about me...

Denise wrote her
first story when she was in high school—seventeen hand-written pages on
school-ruled paper and an obvious rip-off of the last romance novel she read.
She earned a degree in accounting, giving her some nice skills to earn a little
money, but her passion has always been writing. She has written numerous short
stories and more than a few full-length novels. Her favorite pastimes when
she’s not writing are spending time with her family, traveling, reading, and
scrapbooking. She lives in Louisiana with the most wonderful husband and the two best children in the whole wide world.